Monday, December 12, 2016

Using the fly to investigate what links xeroderma pigmentosum to cancer risk

Stettler K, Li X, Sandrock B, Braga-Lagache S, Heller M, Dümbgen L, Suter B. A Drosophila XPD model links cell cycle coordination with neuro-development and suggests links to cancer. Dis Model Mech. 2015 Jan;8(1):81-91. PMID: 25431422; PMCID: PMC4283652.

From the abstract: "XPD functions in transcription, DNA repair and in cell cycle control. Mutations in human XPD (also known as ERCC2) mainly cause three clinical phenotypes: xeroderma pigmentosum (XP), Cockayne syndrome (XP/CS) and trichothiodystrophy (TTD), and only XP patients have a high predisposition to developing cancer. Hence, we developed a fly model to obtain novel insights into the defects caused by individual hypomorphic alleles identified in human XP-D patients. This model revealed that the mutations that displayed the greatest in vivo UV sensitivity in Drosophila did not correlate with those that led to tumor formation in humans. Immunoprecipitations followed by targeted quantitative MS/MS analysis showed how different xpd mutations affected the formation or stability of different transcription factor IIH (TFIIH) subcomplexes. The XP mutants most clearly linked to high cancer risk, Xpd R683W and R601L, showed a reduced interaction with the core TFIIH and also an abnormal interaction with the Cdk-activating kinase (CAK) complex. ..."

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